GOD'S STORY
God has shared His story with us so that we can know him.
God put His story into words and wrote it in a book called “the Bible.” The Bible isn’t primarily about you and me, and what we should be doing. It’s about God, who He is, and what He is has done, is doing, and will do.
It’s a real-life story! It’s a true story. There are lots of stories in the Bible, but all the stories are telling one Big Story. The Story of how God loves who He created, and comes to rescue them. It takes the whole Bible to tell this Story.
THE BIBLE
The Bible is God’s Word - His message to humanity, to us.
We are told that through its pages we can know God, as He reveals Himself to us.
"...no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit."
2 Peter 1:20-21
GOD
God has always been and will always be. God is a spirit, eternal, self-existent, and sovereign ruler of all. He is the only God.
"I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God..."
Isaiah 45:5
CREATOR
God who is all-knowing and all-powerful, created the heaven and the earth. Everything in it's kind and was created, and God was pleased with it.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."
Genesis 1:1
HUMANITY
God created us in His image. We reflect the image of God and hold much in common with God. He created us male and female. We are made for relationship with God.
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Genesis 1:26-27
SATAN
Satan, the enemy of God, tempted Adam and Eve to sin. In their pride they choose to disobey God. This broke the realtionship between humnaity and God. The whole world changed. It became a place of guilt, sorrow and death.
"For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things."
Romans 1:21-23
DEATH
The result of this broken relationship was three-fold. Physical death - we all will die physically one day. Relational death - we are all born with a broken relationship with God. Spiritual death - separation from God forever.
"For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil."
Ecclesiastes 12:14
OUR PROBLEM
We have something we don’t want—a sin problem. Because of our sin, we experience guilt, shame, pain, separation from God, and eventually the Second Death. We need something we don’t have—perfection. We need a level of goodness that makes us acceptable in God’s presence.
"For the wages of sin is death..."
Romans 6:23
SACRIFICES
God wanted to show people what it would take to remove sin. It involved a rather vivid visual aid - animal sacrifice. This represented something as a substitute for us as well as an atonement or cover for our sin. The blood/death covered our sin.
"Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins."
Hebrews 9:22
GOD'S PROMISE
Through a man named Abraham, God promised that a perfect substitute and covering for sin would come. God would provide a solution to the sin problem.
"...in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice."
Genesis 22:18
GOD'S CHOSEN PEOPLE
The Lord had said that the Israelites were His people, and as such, they were to be an example to the rest of the world of God’s relationship to humanity and humanity’s relationship to God. All He required was they obey Him. He gave the the Law to show what He expected. A law that we can't keep without God.
"What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”
Romans 7:7
SINFUL PATTERN
The nation of Israel continued to reflect their problem of sin by a continual pattern of rebellion, becoming enslaved, repenting, and God delievering them. God contiued to provide them leadership through judges, prophets and Kings.
And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men..."
Isaiah 29:13
GOD APPEARS
Jesus was born in Bethlehem. The Anointed One, Messiah, Christ, the Lord was born. He was God Himself.
“Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."
Luke 2:10-11
JESUS BRINGS LIFE
Jesus promises eternal life to whoever believes in him. Jesus came to save the world from all the tragedy that sin, Satan and death had brought.
"Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life."
John 5:24
JESUS IS THE WAY
Jesus said: He is the only way to God. His Word is the only truth. Eternal life can only be found in Him.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
John 14:6
HEAVEN
Those who die and are in a right relationship with God will be with Him forever in paradise, Heaven.
"Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are
written in heaven.”
Luke 10:20
HELL
Those who die and are not in a right relationship with God remain separated from him forever in Hell.
"The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
Matthew 13:41-42
JESUS' SACRIFICE
God’s just character could not overlook sin and pretend it had not happened. Sin must be punished—there had to be death. God himself left Heaven and became a man—a sinless man. Jesus Christ. God’s just nature was satisfied by the death of Jesus, a death payment for sin.
"...for fall have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins."
Romans 3:23-25
JESUS IS ALIVE
Jesus died, yes, but he didn’t stay dead. Jesus came back to life to prove that death had no power over Him. The resurrection was a powerful display that God’s just nature was satisfied with Jesus’ death on our behalf. The payment had been made and it had been accepted as sufficient! The grave could not hold him in its clutches. He had victory over death!
"Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery."
Hebrews 2:14-15
WHAT IS YOUR RESPONSE?
Will you recognize and believe in Jesus as your own personal Savior—the one who has paid your sin-debt? If you answer, “YES, you can say that Jesus has paid my sin-debt. The rest of the Bible is written for people like you. If you answered, “YES,” then do you understand that God has forgiven you of your sin, and has restored His relationship with you? You can rest assured that your sin is forgiven and that your relationship with God has been restored.
We would really appreciate the opportunity to share this with you in more detail.
Please contact us if you would like to know more.